South Sudan Food Crisis Worst On Record
The South Sudan food crisis will reach its worst on record in 2022, warns the United Nations. In the coming months, 8.3 million people—over two-thirds of the country’s population—face extreme hunger.
Recent world events have exacerbated an already dire situation. The war in Ukraine and flooding in the region have made circumstances desperate, and South Sudan has become one of the most high-risk places in the world.
Luka Garang Kenyang
GEMS Field Director & Program Manager
“People will die of hunger if there are no other ways to get food.”
Luka Garang Kenyang serves as the Field Director and Program Manager for the GEMS Development Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to creating sustainable communities and food sources in South Sudan.
Kenyang explained the severity of the South Sudan hunger crisis, "I'm in Aweil, and the situation for food is worse because the World Food Programme has stopped giving food to the vulnerable people and also other NGOs that are partners with WFP are not able to bring food.”
“This changes the lives of vulnerable people and also makes it worse for general South Sudan. People will die of hunger if there are no other ways to get food, then it will be a different history," he added.
In the area hit worst by hunger, children who face severe malnourishment are the most vulnerable. Lack of access to food puts them at risk of succumbing to malaria and other life-threatening illnesses.
The World Faces a Global Food Shortage
During the G7 summit held from 26 to 28 June 2022 in the Bavarian Alps, world leaders expressed concern over a mounting world hunger crisis expected to get worse. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the food shortage as a “catastrophe.”
The war in Ukraine has impacted millions of people globally. Russian troops block grain supplies from shipment, and 20 million tons remain stuck inside Ukraine. In addition, high global energy prices have escalated global food prices, making it even more difficult to feed the hungry.
For the people of South Sudan, this means dire consequences. The war in Ukraine has forced the United Nations to divert funding away from its World Food Programme and cut food rations to South Sudan by as much as half.
The situation worsens with the upcoming rainy season as flooding stalls the delivery of humanitarian aid to fight hunger in Sudan.
In 2021, extreme flooding affected over 835,000 people in South Sudan. Record rainfalls and overflowing rivers over the last several years have overwhelmed farmlands and prevented people from planting crops. Without anything to feed their livestock, people have had to kill nearly 800,000 animals.
July 2022 Flooding in South Sudanese villages has left agricultural lands unsalvageable
Flooding from the previous year’s record flooding still hasn’t receded as the upcoming wet season looms, typically lasting from the end of April and through to November.
During a press briefing in Geneva, Andrew Harper, UNHCR, said, “[Flooding] has decimated the subsistence farming that most communities depend upon to survive and substantially worsened food insecurity.”
July 8, 2022 Residents of Jonglei, South Sudan, work to get supplies to villages through the flooded walkways of the city.
Unfortunately, for the people of South Sudan, the hunger crisis is nothing new. A civil war that erupted in 2013 caused over 4 million people to flee their homes. The conflict pushed the country into an economic downfall, with skyrocketing costs of food and fuel.
Forced from their homes, people have lost their livelihoods and possessions, including essential livestock and farming tools to support sustainable communities and reliable food sources.
The hunger crisis in South Sudan has become desperate. Millions of people, many of them children, face the threat of starvation.
But there is hope.
GEMS Development Foundation is dedicated to fighting hunger by providing sustainable food sources to the people of South Sudan. The organization donates female goats and bags of sorghum to help feed those at risk of starvation in South Sudan.
A single bag of sorghum can feed a family for up to four months.
We can all contribute. Join the efforts in fighting the food crisis in South Sudan. Your monetary donation goes toward feeding the millions of families and children of South Sudan in dire need of assistance.